Pricele

Grocery prices in 1997

In 1997, a dozen large eggs cost $1.06 and a gallon of regular gas cost $1.23 in the U.S., and the average hourly wage was $12.50.

1997 vs 2025

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data (U.S. city average) and average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees. Yearly figures are the mean of the monthly ones. Prices are in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation; minutes of work is the adjustment.

What changed

The wage went from $12.50 to $31.34 an hour. The whole basket above took about 135 minutes of work in 1997 and about 124 in 2025.

The biggest price rise was a pound of ground beef, +335%, from $1.40 to $6.09.

Measured in work, a pound of bananas got the most affordable: about 2.4 minutes in 1997, about 1.2 now.

Play with these numbers

Price Year shows five receipts like this one and asks for the year. Then & Now asks what one item cost in an earlier year, and Inflation Ladder asks which rose the most.

1997 prices, answered

How much did a dozen large eggs cost in 1997?
$1.06 (per dozen, grade A large), the U.S. city average for 1997 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $12.50, it took about 5.1 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $4.25, or about 8.1 minutes.
How much did a gallon of regular gas cost in 1997?
$1.23 (per gallon, unleaded regular), the U.S. city average for 1997 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $12.50, it took about 5.9 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $3.26, or about 6.2 minutes.
How much did a pound of white bread cost in 1997?
$0.87 (per lb, white pan bread), the U.S. city average for 1997 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $12.50, it took about 4.2 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $1.87, or about 3.6 minutes.
How much did a pound of ground beef cost in 1997?
$1.40 (per lb, 100% beef), the U.S. city average for 1997 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $12.50, it took about 6.7 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $6.09, or about 12 minutes.
How much did a pound of ground coffee cost in 1997?
$4.11 (per lb, 100% ground roast), the U.S. city average for 1997 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $12.50, it took about 20 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $8.18, or about 16 minutes.
What was the average hourly wage in 1997?
$12.50 an hour, the BLS average for production and nonsupervisory employees in private industry. In 2025 it was $31.34.

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